Cartesius: Chaos and Order (Record no. 91)

MARC details
000 -LEADER
fixed length control field 04606nam a22003257a 4500
003 - CONTROL NUMBER IDENTIFIER
control field OSt
008 - FIXED-LENGTH DATA ELEMENTS--GENERAL INFORMATION
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040 ## - CATALOGING SOURCE
Transcribing agency SILC
041 ## - LANGUAGE CODE
Language code of spoken, sung, and signed languages ita
Language code of summaries on containers eng
Language code of original languages of main work(s) ita
Written languages, including subtitles, captions and intertitles eng
046 ## - SPECIAL CODED DATES
Date of original film release 1974
050 ## - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CALL NUMBER
Classification number PN1997
Item number .C378 1974
100 #a - MAIN ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Roberto Rossellini
9 (RLIN) 504
245 ## - TITLE STATEMENT
Title Cartesius: Chaos and Order
Medium [videorecording] /
Statement of responsibility, etc Roberto Rossellini
260 ## - PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC. (IMPRINT)
Place of publication, distribution, etc Italy
Name of publisher, distributor, etc Istituto Luce
-- Orizzonte 2000
-- RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
-- Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF)
Date of publication, distribution, etc 2008
300 ## - PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Extent 1 videodisc (ca. 162 min.)
Other physical details sound, color.
Dimensions 4 3/4 in.
440 ## - SERIES STATEMENT/ADDED ENTRY--TITLE
Title Eclipse From The Criterion Collection
Volume number/sequential designation Series 14
9 (RLIN) 505
Name of part/section of a work Rossellini's History Films: Renaissance and Enlightenment
440 ## - SERIES STATEMENT/ADDED ENTRY--TITLE
Title The Criterion Collection
520 ## - SUMMARY, ETC.
Summary, etc From case cover:<br/>As profoundly simple as its hero’s famous statement “I think, therefore I am,” Roberto Rossellini’s Cartesius is an intimate, psychological study of obsession and existential crisis.
Expansion of summary note In Roberto Rossellini’s films about them, Descartes, Pascal, and Socrates argue incessantly for the superiority of reason. But in all three cases, their emotional deficiencies cast doubt on the wisdom of their obsession. “Science prevented me from living,” Descartes himself concludes. Still, for Rossellini, it’s “crazies” like these men who make new realities. In Descartes’ day, sensible people questioned the crazies who, for example, claimed the earth moved around the sun, since not only did everyone know the earth stayed still but in this biblical truth they founded their faith, than which nothing was more essential. By what right did self-proclaimed “science” contradict Holy Scripture? René Descartes (1596–1650), a devout Catholic, refused to question his church. But on the other hand, he was stunned by the world’s ignorance and inspired by the gains in knowledge made by science and reason. Therefore he sought reasons to trust reason. Rossellini is moved less by Descartes’ philosophy in the abstract than by the anguish with which he pursues his obsession. Action and drama in Cartesius are entirely inside Descartes’ head, where thought and emotion are locked in deadening struggle—and where perhaps something is amiss. “I’ve closed myself up, alone, in this room for many days,” Descartes says. “I shall close my eyes, I shall close my ears, I shall extinguish my senses . . . spend time only, only with myself.” Here truly is involution. Descartes’ crisis is existential, yet he excavates for salvation deep inside syllogisms. Rossellini said his idea for the movie came from a book by Benedetto Croce, who thought Descartes hopelessly abstract. Yet Rossellini felt that if he could translate the “incredible chaos of the times” into his movie, “viewers would understand immediately why Descartes felt the need to write a Discourse on Method.” Rossellini described Descartes as less likable than Pascal, even “a son of a bitch, a coward, a lazy person. He was quite repulsive, of course, not simpatico. But I don’t care about that. He was intelligent.” Cartesius cost about $130,000 and was financed by Italian and French television. Rossellini had planned to shoot in France, in English, with an American actor playing Descartes, for American television. The French were unhappy with English and an American in a French movie on Descartes. When the smoke cleared in February 1973, the production had moved to locations near Rome, an Italian was playing Descartes (Ugo Cardea), and on the first morning the actors learned they would enunciate brand-new dialogue in French. French television refused the film, however, for lack of authenticity, so, ultimately, it was dubbed into Italian and shown only in Italy. Cardea wanted to proclaim Descartes’ famous line “I think, therefore I am.” But Rossellini said, “Say it as if you’re buying cigarettes. Do you think Descartes was figuring out that moment what he was saying? He’d been thinking about it all his life, which is why he’d say it now without any particular expression.”
538 ## - SYSTEM DETAILS NOTE
System details note DVD video; Dolby Digital 1.0; monaural; NTSC; Regions 1; 1.33:1 as 4:3 fullscreen.
546 ## - LANGUAGE NOTE
Language note Italian audio. Optional English Subtitles.
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Roberto Rossellini
Relator term Screenwriter
-- Director
9 (RLIN) 479
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Marcella Mariani
Relator term Screenwriter
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Renzo Rossellini
Relator term Screenwriter
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Luciano Scaffa
Relator term Screenwriter
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Ugo Cardea
Relator term Actor
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Anne Pouchie
Relator term Actor
700 ## - ADDED ENTRY--PERSONAL NAME
Personal name Claude Berthy
Relator term Actor
942 ## - ADDED ENTRY ELEMENTS (KOHA)
Source of classification or shelving scheme Library of Congress Classification
Item type DVD - Video
Holdings
Withdrawn status Lost status Source of classification or shelving scheme Damaged status Not for loan Home library Current library Shelving location Date acquired Total Checkouts Full call number Barcode Date last seen Price effective from Koha item type Public note
    Library of Congress Classification     SILC Learning Support Services SILC Learning Support Services DH132-DVD-A: DVD Cabinet A 08/03/2011   PN1997 .C378 1974 000034 08/05/2011 08/03/2011 DVD - Video Italian audio. Optional English Subtitles.